The Nation: Ceding the Canal-Slowly

In the sun-swept presidential suite of Panama City's Holiday Inn,
overlooking a bay speckled with shrimp boats, the mood was clearly
jubilant. Chief Panamanian Negotiator Romulo Escobar Bethancourt jumped
to his feet and reached across the table to grasp the outstretched
hands of U.S. Negotiators Ellsworth Bunker and Sol Linowitz. With a
smile that seemed as broad as the canal over which they had been
arguing for many months, Escobar proclaimed: "This is good. Here are
the people...